Saturday, August 30, 2014

Another week down and I am still wiped! There is no kind of tired like teacher tired at the beginning of the year! { For sure!} I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to showcase my week.

We focused on colors. There are so many good books and ideas out there about colors. It was hard to try to narrow down my activities. These are what I ended up with.

We read 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?'

To retell the story using these adorable bear puppets. The littles loved them! I got them from a fellow teacher in my building. She thought they were originally from Miss Kindergarten. Please let me know if this is not correct!

We also manipulated play-doh to cover these brown bear mats.

The little ones each had an animal from the book to cover with tissue paper squares to make our own brown bear class book. I love how these turned out!

'Dog's Colorful Day' was another story we read. We practiced gluing dots on this dog.

The morning class had fewer dots to glue on since they are younger and less experienced. :)

After reading 'Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes' the little learners worked on a cause and effect activity.

First we completed the activity on an actor chart as a whole group.

Then each little one had their own paper to complete. They did awesome!

I love Labor Day weekend! My Tigers begin their football season AND the Kansas City Irish Fest is this weekend. Heaven :)

I work part-time at Anthropologie, mostly because I have an addiction to that store. :) It is a great company. If you are a teacher from now until September 7th you can get a 15% discount by showing your teacher ID.

Friday, August 22, 2014

My first full week of school is over and I am T.I.R.E.D! Here's a peek at some of the things we worked on….

After reading 'Too Much Glue' we practiced our gluing skills by squeezing a dot of glue on a construction paper glue bottle with dots on it for visual cues. Each little learner then placed an Ellison die cut out of a mini crayon on the dot of glue. They LOVED this activity. Using liquid glue makes my little ones so happy. It cracks me up. :)

For your own copy of the glue bottle we used click HERE. It has less dots for the younger ones and a few more for the older sweeties.

We also started our centers rotations. I am easing the little ones into centers by introducing one at a time. This week we played with blocks, cars/trains, and tools. Here is one of my sweet babies practicing his tool time skills. :)

We also sorted real items into things it's ok to bring to school in a backpack vs. things we should keep at home.

Here's a freebie I posted about this earlier in the week on the SPED Blog Hop. Just in case you missed it, here it is again. Pictures are also in black and white to save on color ink. Click HERE for your own copy

Placing items from smallest to largest and gluing them on a sentence strip helped us work on size sorting. For some of my learners we used five items. Younger sweeties used three items.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

I love my school. It was built with the special needs child in mind. The lights have dimmers, there is a sensory area in each pod, and the playground was specifically designed for little bodies. Even though I didn't change a lot from last year to this year, I did add a few new items. So, without further adieu here is my sweet little classroom.

My book area was moved to the middle of the room, right behind my circle time rug. I have my sweeties grab a book to look at while we are all gathering for circle.

This is my circle time area. I have an interactive whiteboard I could use, but have found I prefer to have a hands on circle time wall. I love watching little ones pretend to play school during center time!

This is my dramatic play area. The divider helps keep the shelf blocked until we it is time to play.

Another view of my dramatic play area. The view out the windows is of the playground.

My big purchase this year….this rug from IKEA. L.O.V.E. :)

My table time area. This is where we do art, fine motor activities, and snack. It gets a lot of use!

Be sure to check out or link up with Blog Hoppin' all week long for Back to School 2014.
Also, don't forget to take advantage of Teachers Pay Teachers one day Back to School Boost this Wednesday, August 20th. Everything in my store will be discounted 20% on top of TpT's sale.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day. :)

Well just to show you how much, 24 of us have joined together to help you start your new year out with a BOOM!

We are beyond excited and even more excited for you! Ok, maybe even just a wee bit jealous! :)

These 24 awesome special educators, including me, have put together 5 fabulous giveaways and a freebie hop with over 20 freebies just for you!!

Shall we get this party going!!?

Are you ready?

The first 3 giveaways are split into 3 categories; early childhood, primary, and intermediate! So be sure to enter the one for your grade level! You can click on any of the pictures to view the product in their store or to wishlist it in case you don't win!!{wink}

Here's a look at everything one teacher will win in the Early Childhood Pack!

Here's a look at everything one teacher will win in the Intermediate Pack! As you know, it can be a challenge finding resources on TpT for this level, but we did manage to put a few things together that we think you'll love!

a Rafflecopter giveawayBut wait! There's MORE!David at "Attainment Company" was generous enough to give two lucky teachers a copy of this e-Book for their iPad.(This e-Book is compatible ONLY for iPad, so if you do not have an iPad do not enter!)

a Rafflecopter giveawayHow many of you have seen this book, or are even using it in your classroom to assess and determine presents levels??Brigance CIBS

Last year a new and improved updated version was released......Brigance CIBS II

and we're super excited that Robin at "Curriculum Associates" has generously donated it for us to give to one of you!! Folks, this is a $339.00 value!! Now this one definitely makes us just a wee bit jealous! (Our apologies, but this one is for U.S. residents only)a Rafflecopter giveawayAnd now it's time for a...............FREEBIE HOP!

What's in My Backpack?

Sort items that can be brought to school in a backpack vs. items not appropriate to be carried in a backpack.

About Me

I teach 3 to 5 year olds in a blended Title One/Special Education classroom. I am blessed to have a job that I absolutely love. My paraprofessional, Valerie, is amazing. Together, we have so much fun teaching our preschool wonders!